Record #25: Leonard Cohen’s ‘Death of a Ladies Man’
While I’ve listened to and enjoyed plenty of Leonard Cohen’s minimalist folk material, I’d never checked out his larger-than-life 1977 release, Death of a Ladies Man. The lyrics on this record are phenomenal—par for the course for Cohen—but some of the music is just slightly stock. Hear me out! Now, the reason I say this is that it was produced by Phil Spector, who also wrote all of the music. As spot-on as Spector’s enormous, textured arrangements are—with strings, horns, back-up singers and percussion a-plenty—a lot of these songs sound like replicas of George Harrison or girl group material. Stuff that Spector totally knows and has utilized the formula for countless times.
That being said, Spector is still a genius—absurd hair, homicidal tendencies and all—and sometimes the emotions Cohen captures in his words are just astounding. Some of the record is dedicated to Cohen leaving behind his lecherous ways, and some of it is about embracing said creepy tendencies. It’s interesting to hear both the apathetic expressions and the heartbroken and weary stories of a gentleman entering middle age as he explores the true nature of sex and of his relationships. “Paper Thin Hotel” is such a stark and interesting ballad of detachment. “A heavy burden lifted from my soul / I learned that love was out of my control.” What a truly remarkable writer. The songs themselves are all quite good, but I’m not finding anything that quite stacks up to “Bird on a Wire” or “So Long, Marianne.” Still a great record.
